Executives see AI as opportunity. Engineers see it as threat. Neither is talking to the other about it.
DDI’s Global Leadership Forecast surveyed 13,000+ leaders across 1,500 organizations. The finding that hit me: frontline leaders are 3X more likely than executives to worry about AI. Makes sense - engineers work closest to the systems being automated. Execs see dashboards and cost savings. Engineers see their daily work being rewritten.
I’ve seen this at play recently. Leadership announces “we’re going all-in on AI.” Engineering team hears “we’re replacing you with AI.” What leadership meant was “we’re adding AI to support your work, not replace it.” But they never said that part. The result? Adoption stalls. Timelines slip. Your best people quietly start interviewing elsewhere.
I’ll admit - I’ve skipped this step before. I’d roll out new tooling and wonder why nobody used it. The engineers weren’t resisting change. They were asking questions I hadn’t answered: “Why wasn’t I asked?” and “How is this supposed to help me?”
Ask first. Three questions are enough: “What do you think AI changes about your role? Where could it actually help you? What worries you most about it?” Then let them help decide how to put the strategy into practice. The fastest AI adoption I’ve seen didn’t start with a management deck. They’re the ones where engineers shaped the plan instead of having it dropped on them.
When’s the last time you sat down with your engineers - not to present, but to ask?